China's biang biang noodles are taking the world by storm



A rhythmic thumping sound echoed through the restaurant-lined street in north-west China, emanating from multiple directions, their cadences briefly falling into sync before disbanding once again. I reflexively turned my head in the direction of the nearest thud to see a chef working in front of his shop, swinging a hefty rope of dough between his hands.To get more news about China cuisine, you can visit shine news official website.

He raised the strand and, firmly, deftly, slapped it repeatedly against the countertop, each dexterous motion coinciding with a resounding thwack. As he continued slamming it, the dough stretched and elongated to the length of his wingspan. Pinching the centre of the strand, he then split the dough down the middle to form a loop, before tossing it nimbly into a waiting pot of bubbling water.

Curiosity piqued by this display, I approached the chef to request a serving and, minutes later, tucked into a bowl of thick noodles drenched in hot chilli oil and vinegar and sprinkled with spring onions and garlic. The noodles were as wide as a belt and nearly as long as one too, their firm texture offering a satisfyingly substantial bite. The slapping technique, as it turns out, generates a chewy consistency that absorbs the rich flavours of the seasonings.

Here in Xi'an, the capital of China's Shaanxi province and one of the country's oldest cities, the craft of noodle-pulling is so intertwined with that slapping sound that the distinctive noise ended up inspiring this dish's curious name: biang biang noodles.

The "biang" character is onomatopoeic, meant to mimic the sound of dough hitting a counter. It is also more complex to write than any character in the Chinese language, with a whopping 58 strokes (though, depending on whom you ask, this number may vary slightly). Given how much thought must go into writing it, I was surprised to discover that the character doesn't actually exist – at least, not according to official dictionaries. That's because the character is entirely a folk creation. Upon closer inspection of the symbol, I realised that it is also comprised of many distinct elements that, together, paint a picture of Xi'an's rich history.

Hiding in this intricate biang diagram, for example, is the Chinese character for silk. Xi'an was the eastern terminus of the Silk Road, the vast ancient network of East-West trade routes that facilitated the exchange of goods, ideas and technologies for centuries. Along those roads, horses not only provided a primary means of transport, but were traded as a commodity. It makes sense, then, that the biang character additionally contains the symbol for horse and appears to pay homage to these animals' important historical role in the region. On either side of the horse symbol, the Chinese character meaning "long" or "length" also appears; whether interpreted as a reference to the Silk Road or to the noodles, both would seem appropriate.

It's unclear exactly how the complex biang character originated, but its creation is steeped in legend. One widely told story credits it to a young scholar from the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC) who didn't have enough money for his bowl of biang biang noodles and offered to invent a character in lieu of payment. Today, there are amusing poems and riddles people can recite to help recall of the complicated character's numerous strokes.